OW

a side effect of doing absolutely nothing all day, woke up this morning feeling like i'd gone through the spin cycle of a very large and sadistic wash. stiff neck and very sore lower back. i am waddling around school like a grandma. i've heard one "otsukare" today (which in that instance had a general meaning of "you're tired because you've worked hard. good job"). i vehemently denied it and told her that my back was hurting and wasn't related to anything that i've done.

on a more exciting note, leaving for Seoul tomorrow! 4night trip with the Sapporo crew: Nick, Mike, Chris. Can't wait!

ho hum

a little too relaxed at this school, i think. i come in late, i do nothing all day, manage to grab a nap in my nap room everyday (and some teachers know that i'm in there so if they really needed to find me, they can come wake me up), play frisbee with the kids at lunch, i don't plan lessons. yesterday i just half-heartedly pulled one out of my ass and the teacher loved it. (shrug.) today i have two lessons and i don't have any clue what i'm going to do and i quite frankly don't care. my desk is overflowing with garbage, papers i can't read, and worksheets that i should have checked and given back weeks ago. it's gotten so bad that there's no space on the desk for me to work (or nap). so some of the papers have found their way to another desk in front of the secretary's. it's become my worksheet checking station.

today's agenda: find the top of my desk.

the nick/helen goodbye party

at some points, it was unclear who was really leaving. classic helen.

we were supposed to bbq it up at osaka castle park, but since it was raining like a motha, the partay was relocated to helen's apartment. and it was hellishly rainy. i was biking around, with an umbrella, getting completely soaked and my fingers were actually starting to prune. i was on the hunt for a frisbee. i was bound and determined to have a frisbee for the barbecue even though there was no way in hell we were going to be able to play what with the rain and all (also ignoring the fact that no one is the least bit interested in frisbee except for me). had to go to three stores up and down thewad to find one. as i clutched my frisbee ready to make my purchase, i thought to myself, this will be my amulet. this frisbee, automagically, somehow, will turn this nasty weather into sunshine. yes. yes. frisbee. do it. no pressure. i have faith, oh-frisbee-amulet.

the rain didn't stop but the party was fun nevertheless. loads of people i didn't know but still felt completely at ease. the party ended when the neighbor a few doors down grew increasingly irate about all the noise and came to the door every few minutes to tell us to shut up. we decided to venture out into town for an all-nighter. got into town and realized that everyone's energy levels were a few notches down and away from what is required for staying out all night. the motivation just wasn't there. after a beer or two at an outdoor cafe/bar a hundred meters or so from the train station, we ran back and managed to grab the last train back to helen's town. went to karaoke and spent an eternity there (although in actuality it might have only been an hour or so). got back to helens around 3. slept.

i haven't slept at a normal hour and gotten a normal amount of sleep in what feels like forever. need to stop staying up so late. went to bed around 2 last night and was late, yet again, to work this morning. not only did i oversleep, i belatedly realized that i had left my bike parked at the station and would have to walk to school.

really only writing this much because i'm procrastinating on cleaning off my desk and checking papers and writing that stupid article about habitat. that was due last week. that only needs to be half a page long. pathetic.

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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

most recent pictures!

man i love modern technology. and flickr. which has a webpage that is a bitch to navigate. or maybe it's just me.

pictures are from:
Chika's party - June 3rd
night out at Beer Belly - June 10th
day trip to the garbage incineration plant - June 11th

also had some pictures from that posh hotel lounge where we watched the England vs. Paraguay match (at which i probably spent more time scoping out the paraguay players than actually paying attention to the game) but for some reason flickr isn't letting me upload them. oh well.

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recent-ish pictures

before and after habitat. my life really doesn't revolve around habitat. it's just that i have a buttload of pictures from the trip.

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oldish pictures from habitat trip

will put up a different set when i get it together. it took me forever to get this thing to work. enjoy!

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what? where am I?

it's sad how compulsively and a tad too obsessively i check my e-mail only to find e-mails from Victoria's Secret (who has already taken way more of my money than i should have ever allowed) and Astrology.com. i should actually SEND some e-mails. that might help the situation.

lately been feeling frustrated with my lack of memory. it's never been particularly good but now it's deteriorating at a noticible rate. i can't remember events, conversations, sometimes people. my mom says it's the booze and that i should stop drinking so much. okay, okay. i don't drink SO much compared to others around here but more than what is healthy. i fell in love once and it took me a long time to heal and forget. but now i wonder if it was time or did alcohol wipe that bit of my brain clean? hmmm.

i WOULD like to spend less time hugging toilets. hate being a puker.

funny though how i can remember really random things like the names of the crushes of my sister's crushes. ??? something definitely wrong with my brain.

i really need to straighten out my priorities. dig them out from underneath all the clean laundry tossed about in my room and iron them out a bit. i can only focus on what is five minutes in front of me, and at most, a week ahead of me. it's really impossible though. every time i sit down with my GRE prep book i get distracted within minutes.

saaaave me.

god my eyes itch like mad. i don't know what it is.